As Capitol Insurance Brokers, we are guided by 11 Commandments for business failure by Donald Keough in everything we do.
ELEVEN COMMANDMENTS FOR BUSINESS FAILURE
(By Donald Keough).
- QUIT TAKING RISKS
- BE INFLEXIBLE
- ISOLATE YOURSELF
- ASSUME INFALLIBILITY
- DON’T TAKE TIME TO THINK
- PLAY THE GAME CLOSE TO THE FOUL LINE
- PUT ALL YOUR FAITH IN EXPERTS AND OUTSIDE CONSULTANTS
- LOVE YOUR BUREAUCRACY
- SEND MIXED SIGNALS
- BE AFRAID OF THE FUTURE
- LOSE YOUR PASSION FOR WORK- FOR LIFE
1. Quit Taking Risks
According to one school of thought, there are three different types of people in life. There are those who watch things happen, those who wonder what has happened, and those who make things happen. Usually those who make things happen are often risk takers. As some would like to put it, the greatest risk in life is not to take a risk. Remember the higher the risk, the higher the return. As CAPITOL, we strive to ensure that our clients’ interests are always protected even if it means going that extra mile. In rolling out our neatly packaged insurance products, we are guided by the principle that “he that is overcautious will accomplish little.”
2. Be Inflexible
In life there is nothing that is as constant as change. Therefore, for one to prosper, even for business to record profits there is need to think outside the box. This entails being flexible. Dinosaurs became extinct because they failed to adapt. As CAPITOL, we have realized that it is incumbent upon us to embrace change and think outside the box. This has resulted in us coming up with new products and schemes in our quest to satisfy the insuring community. To us the sky is the limit, history is downstream- the future upstream where opportunities and danger may be on the way.
“For this is the tragedy of man- circumstances change, but he doesn’t.” Machiavelli
3. Isolate Yourself
Team work is the key to success in any organization. We are guided by a Shona proverb, which translated means that one thumb cannot kill lice. You need to share information with colleagues or industry members so that you enhance your knowledge. According to John Le Cere. “A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.” As CAPITOL, we put emphasis on team work and we are happy to note that we have a team of young, vibrant, experienced and qualified personnel who are very passionate about providing neatly packaged products and services.
4. Assume Infallibility
At CAPITOL we take our clients’ complaints seriously. We actually have complaints and compliments registers as well as suggestion boxes at our reception. All this is done to remove the “I know it all” mentality. Though we boast of having qualified and experienced staff members, we do not allow them to sit on their laurels. Instead we encourage them to continue reading thus developing themselves. This enhances our capacity to give professional advice to our clients.
5.Play the Game Close to the Foul Line
In our day to day business conduct, we are guided by our systems and procedures manual, and the ZIBA Code of Conduct. We are registered by the Insurance and Pensions Commission, thereby confirming our status as a law abiding corporate citizen. Our culture is such that once you start asking yourself questions such as, is it right? Is it legal? Can we get away with it? then certainly you are playing the game close to the foul line. At CAPITOL, we are preoccupied with doing the right things rather than doing things right. To us success is more permanent when we achieve it without destroying our principles.
6.Don’t take Time to Think
In life you should always know that time to think is not a luxury, it is a necessity. We are living in a dynamic environment where the world is becoming a global village. Therefore, as an individual or business you need to take time to think how best you can survive in such an environment. As one scholar rightly puts it, “there is more to life than increasing speed.” At CAPITOL, we take time to consult our clients just for us to understand their insurance needs then tailor make a policy to suit their unique needs. This has seen us consolidate our place as the most responsive and client focused broker.
7.Pull all your faith in experts and outside consultants
At CAPITOL we believe that we have qualified staff in all our divisions so much that we are our own consultants. Research is part of our culture and we use different fora for individuals to make presentations on any areas of interest. This has enhanced our level of innovation since product development is done in-house.
8.Love your bureaucracy
At CAPITOL, we have a lean structure in place that ensures effective and efficient service delivery. We empower our employees thus we do not have layers and layers of managers. Therefore, decision making is faster. By so doing we do not compromise our service delivery.
“A committee is a group of men who individually can do nothing, but as a group decides that nothing can be done” Fred Allen.
9.Send mixed signals
In our line of business, communication is very key. However, the problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished. Therefore, at all times we endeavor to walk the talk. We promise to deliver neatly packaged insurance products and services to the insuring public; therefore, we are guided by the principle of “under promising and over delivering.”
10. Be afraid of the future
Tomorrow is inevitable. Therefore, how does one expect to succeed when they are afraid of the future? To aspire to a position of leadership in business you simply have to be optimistic. An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty whilst a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity.
“Fear is that little dark room where negatives are developed” Michael Pritchard.
“Worse case scenarios rarely happen” Anonymous.
Attitude is very key in everything we do.
11. Lose your passion for work- for life
It is important to note that in life, you should strive to accomplish the purpose of your creation. It has often been said that nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion Therefore once passion is lost, you are doomed to fail. One of our values at CAPITOL is our passion for quality and excellence in everything we do. This enables us to roll out neatly packaged products and services to our valuable clients.